1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to synthetic insect attractants. More particularly, the invention relates to chemical attractants and use thereof to detect, survey, monitor, and/or control yellowjackets and paper wasps.
2. Description of the Art
Yellowjackets. A number of species of yellowjackets (genera: Vespula and Dolichovespula) are pestiferous, particularly those in the Paravespula subgenus. All yellowjackets can be a stinging hazard particularly in defense of their colonies, but species in this group also scavenge for sugar-rich materials and animal carrion, bringing them into frequent contact with people when foraging away from the nest. Vespula pensylvanica, the western yellowjacket, is the most abundant and pestiferous native species in western North America. Vespula germanica, the german yellowjacket, is a major palearctic pest and has been accidentally introduced into a number of other geographic areas, including North America, South America, Australia, and New Zealand.
Efforts to control wasp populations have focused on destruction of nests or on removal of foraging workers with poison baits or traps baited with chemical attractants or food materials. The development of yellowjacket control methods based on trapping of foragers or on the killing of colonies by the use of poisoned baits has been hampered by a lack of effective attractants for most of the more pestiferous species.
Those species of yellowjackets which scavenge for food may be attracted to both meat-based and sugar-based baits. Combinations of pesticides and meats have been used to control the western yellowjacket, Vespula pensylvanica (Saussure) (Grant et al., Journal of Economic Entomology 61:1653-6 (1968)), the common yellowjacket, Vespula vulgaris (L.) (Wagner and Reierson, Journal of Economic Entomology 62:1192-1197 (1969)), and the German yellowjacket Vespula germanica (Fab.) (Perrott, New Zealand Journal of Zoology 2: 491-508 (1975); Spurr et al., Proc. 49th New Zealand Plant Prot. Conf. 1996: 132-136). Yellowjackets are also attracted to sweet materials, which have been used with limited success in poison baits (Edwards, Proc. 8th Internat. Congr. IUSSL. 300 (1977); Edwards, Social Wasps, their Biology and Control, 398 pages (1980); Christie, Pest Control, pages 30-32 (1992); Dymock et al., Proceedings of the New Zealand Weed and Pest Control Conference 44:38-41 (1991)). Such sweet baits have not been used extensively, in part due to their attractiveness to honey bees (Spurr, New Zealand Journal of Zoology 23:315-324 (1996)). The effectiveness of these baits also varies with geographical locations (Spurr, 1996, supra). Meat-based baits are also not used extensively, because of their relative expense and the short length of time that they are attractive (Spurr, New Zealand Journal of Zoology 22:81-289 (1995)). Synthetic food attractants added to an inert matrix may constitute a useful bait with a long field life (Ross et al., Journal of Economic Entomology 77:637-642 (1984), Spurr, New Zealand Journal of Zoology 22:81-289 (1995)).
Chemical attractants are known for some species of yellowjackets. U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,810 to Eddy et al. reports a method of attracting yellowjacket wasps (Vespula spp.) using an ester having an alcohol moiety and an acid moiety and having a chain length of from 10 to 12 carbon atoms, the alcohol moiety being derived from a saturated aliphatic hydrocarbon alcohol containing from five to six carbon atoms and the acid moiety being derived from an acid selected from the group consisting of alkenoic and alkynoic acids each containing from four to seven carbon atoms. Davis et al., J. Med. Entomol. 4:275-280 (1967) discovered attraction of V. pensylvanica to 2,4-hexadienyl butyrate, 2,4-hexadienyl propionate, and 2,4-hexadienyl isobutyrate. Subsequent tests revealed the superior attractiveness of heptyl butyrate (Davis et al., Journal of Economic Entomology 62:1245 (1969) and Davis et al., Environmental Entomology 2:569-571 (1973)) and of octyl butyrate (Davis et al., Environmental Entomology 1:673 (1972) and McGovern et al., Journal of Economic Entomology 63:1534-1536 (1970)) to V. pensylvanica. MacDonald et al., Environmental Entomology 2:375-379 (1973) reported the trapping of large numbers of queens and workers of Vespula atropilosa (Sladen) in addition to workers of V. pensylvanica, using heptyl butyrate as an attractant. These and other compounds are apparently weakly attractive or are ineffective in attracting other yellowjacket species, including the pestiferous V. germanica, V. vulgaris, Vespula maculifrons (Byssson) and Vespula squamosa (Drury) (Grothaus et al., Environmental Entomology 2:717-718 (1973); Howell et al., Journal of Economic Entomology 67:629-630 (1974); MacDonald et al., 1973, supra). U.S. Pat. No. 3,803,753 describes a method for controlling yellowjackets using a bait comprising fish-flavored food containing dodecachlorooctahydro-1,3,4-metheno-2H-cyclobuta [cd] pentalene in combination with a yellowjacket attractant consisting of heptyl butyrate. U.S. Pat. No. 4,851,218 describes a method for controlling insects of the family Vespidae utilizing interspecific insecticidal bait: (Z)-9-tricosene, (Z)-9-heneicosene and the saturated hydrocarbons tricosane and tridecane, which act as kairomones for the family Vespidae to locate its prey, the house fly, are incorporated as attractants in a proteinaceous matrix having a delayed toxicant.
Paper Wasps. Social wasps in the genus Polistes are common throughout temperate, subtropical, and tropical land areas of the world. In North America they are usually referred to as paper wasps. Some species are recognized as important predators of lepidopterous larvae and, as such, potential biological control agents of insect pests in agro-ecosystems (Gillaspy, In: Vinson S. B. 9ed., Economic Impact and Control of Social Insects, Praeger Press, pages 332-351 (1986); Gould and Jeanne, Environmental Entomology 13:150-156 (1984)). Paper wasps are often a problem insect for people because of their propensity to sting in self defense or in defense of the colony. Introductions of species of paper wasps into new areas, such as Polistes gallicus and Polistes dominulus into North America (Hathoway, Psyche 88:169-173 (1981); Staines and Smith, Proc. Entomol. Soc. Wash. 97:981 (1995); Judd and Carpenter, Great Lakes Entomol. 29:45-46 (1996)) and Polistes chinensis into New Zealand (Clapperton and Dymock, New Zealand Journal of Zoology 24:9-15 (1997)) are troublesome due in part to abnormally dense population levels. Paper wasps have also been a problem at towers and other tall structures in Florida, where reproductives swarm in late autumn and gynes may overwinter (Reed and Landolt, Ann. Entomol. Soc. Amer. 84:628-635 (1991)). There are no baits, traps, or chemical attractants used for Polistes paper wasps. Such methods may be useful in programs to detect introduced species or to manage populations where they are a problem.
The golden paper wasp, Polistes fuscatus aurifer, is broadly distributed throughout the northwestern United States and is a member of a complex of species and subspecies that are common and broadly distributed throughout the western hemisphere. It has accidentally been introduced into Hawaii.